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- Mar 3, 2021
The Navy hopes to develop four new mines to help deny enemy navies freedom of movement during major conflicts.
BYJOSEPH TREVITHICK|UPDATED JUN 28, 2021 5:50 PM EDT
This one is my fav.
The Navy is developing a new air-dropped mine called Hammerhead. This will serve as a replacement for the Mk 60 Encapsulated Torpedo, or CAPTOR, which the service retired years ago.
CAPTOR consisted of a Mk 46 lightweight torpedo inside a launch canister. After hitting the water, an anchor would deploy, holding it in place at depths up to 2,000 feet.
The weapon had a Reliable Acoustic Path (RAP) passive sonar targeting system that could discriminate between hostile submarines and surface vessels and friendly submarines that might also be operating in the area. Once it detected an enemy target, it would fire the torpedo, which would then use its own guidance package to home in on the opponent.
Unlike the shallow-water Quickstrike mines, CAPTOR did not require the target vessel to pass directly overhead. Its deep-water capability also made it more effective against enemy submarines and difficult for opponents to detect in general.
The Navy’s Hammerhead program plans to leverage the older CAPTOR’s basic casing and air-drop components, such as the lugs to attach it to an aircraft. However, the new weapons will have improved targeting sensors, electronics, and software, along with better batteries to power the upgraded systems.
The mine will also have a modular design and use open-architecture software with an eye toward adding in new and improved detection and other capabilities in the future. Depending on the improvements made to the batteries in Hammerhead, the weapon could potentially lie in wait even longer than the CAPTOR, which could remain active for months.
The Hammerhead will likely have a major anti-submarine role just like CAPTOR did previously. This comes at a time when the Navy, in particular, is sounding the alarm about expanding submarine threats from potential "great power" adversaries, such as Russia and China. Advanced non-nuclear submarine technology is steadily proliferating, too, meaning that smaller states will increasingly be able to field more capable types.
www.thedrive.com
BYJOSEPH TREVITHICK|UPDATED JUN 28, 2021 5:50 PM EDT
This one is my fav.
The Navy is developing a new air-dropped mine called Hammerhead. This will serve as a replacement for the Mk 60 Encapsulated Torpedo, or CAPTOR, which the service retired years ago.
CAPTOR consisted of a Mk 46 lightweight torpedo inside a launch canister. After hitting the water, an anchor would deploy, holding it in place at depths up to 2,000 feet.
The weapon had a Reliable Acoustic Path (RAP) passive sonar targeting system that could discriminate between hostile submarines and surface vessels and friendly submarines that might also be operating in the area. Once it detected an enemy target, it would fire the torpedo, which would then use its own guidance package to home in on the opponent.
Unlike the shallow-water Quickstrike mines, CAPTOR did not require the target vessel to pass directly overhead. Its deep-water capability also made it more effective against enemy submarines and difficult for opponents to detect in general.
The Navy’s Hammerhead program plans to leverage the older CAPTOR’s basic casing and air-drop components, such as the lugs to attach it to an aircraft. However, the new weapons will have improved targeting sensors, electronics, and software, along with better batteries to power the upgraded systems.
The mine will also have a modular design and use open-architecture software with an eye toward adding in new and improved detection and other capabilities in the future. Depending on the improvements made to the batteries in Hammerhead, the weapon could potentially lie in wait even longer than the CAPTOR, which could remain active for months.
The Hammerhead will likely have a major anti-submarine role just like CAPTOR did previously. This comes at a time when the Navy, in particular, is sounding the alarm about expanding submarine threats from potential "great power" adversaries, such as Russia and China. Advanced non-nuclear submarine technology is steadily proliferating, too, meaning that smaller states will increasingly be able to field more capable types.
U.S. Is Betting Big On Naval Mine Warfare With These New Sub-Launched and Air-Dropped Types
In the next few years, the Navy hopes to develop four new mines to help deny enemy navies freedom of movement during major conflicts.
www.thedrive.com
